Spiders go viral on the web

The spider web that went viral on a different kind of web. Photos and video: Tracey Maris.

Click the image above to watch the video

They craft and create webs every day, but the spiders in Papamoa, Tauranga, probably weren't expecting to go viral on the interweb.

SunLive in Tauranga broke the story yesterday of thousands of spiders quietly engaged in creating a web that spanned part of the Gordon Spratt Reserve.

Now, the story has hit the main page of Stuff and enquiries have come from Newshub for their bulletin.

SunLive reader Tracey Maris went down to the Gordon Spratt Reserve yesterday because she saw something shimmering on the hill, and says she’s never seen anything like it before.

“The new tsunami evacuation hill was gleaming this afternoon so I went to see what it was.

“To my surprise the entire mound was covered in spider web, with thousands of baby spiders.”

She took some photos and started filming the phenomenon.

“The web started at the top of the mound which is up above the soccer fields. It went almost right down to Papamoa College, so maybe nearly 30 metres.

She says she walked inside it accidentally, and says it was ‘so sticky’.

“I read an article about the same kind of thing a few years back where a whole heap of spiders created the same effect to escape flooding – but that was way up north somewhere.”

It’s likely the spiders were responding to the recent flooding in the district. National Geographic reported the same thing happening in Wagga Wagga, Australia, in 2012, after they experienced flooding.

They craft and create webs every day, but the spiders in Papamoa, Tauranga, probably weren't expecting to go viral on the interweb.

SunLive in Tauranga broke the story yesterday of thousands of spiders quietly engaged in creating a web than spanned part of the Gordon Spratt Reserve.

Now, the story has hit the main page of Stuff and enquiries have come from Newshub for their bulletin.

SunLive reader Tracey Maris went down to the Gordon Spratt Reserve yesterday because she saw something shimmering on the hill, and says she’s never seen anything like it before.

“The new tsunami evacuation hill was gleaming this afternoon so I went to see what it was.

“To my surprise the entire mound was covered in spider web, with thousands of baby spiders.”

She took some photos and started filming the phenomenon.

“The web started at the top of the mound which is up above the soccer fields. It went almost right down to Papamoa College, so maybe nearly 30 metres.

She said she walked inside it accidentally, and says it was ‘so sticky’.

“I read an article about the same kind of thing a few years back where a whole heap of spiders created the same effect to escape flooding – but that was way up north somewhere.”

It’s likely the spiders were responding to the recent flooding in the district. National Geographic reported the same thing happening in Wagga Wagga, Australia, in 2012, after they experienced flooding.

- See more at: http://newsie.co.nz/news/22422-spiders-go-viral-on-web.html#sthash.wq94iyXr.dpuf